100+ rioters arrested after clash with Manila police, anti-corruption protesters clash with pro-Duterte camp

Manila: About 100 rioters were arrested in Manila on Sunday after clashing with police and burning parts of a hotel, virtually hijacking a generally peaceful anti-corruption protests in other parts of the country.

Notably, among the protesters, tensions erupted between anti-corruption and the pro-Duterte camps, with verbal attacks and minor clashes reported between the two camps amid the heat of street mass actions.

The visuals showed palpable public anger against fake or subpar government infrastructure projects, especially those involving flood defences.

Investigations showed trillions of pesos lined the pockets of few individual contractors, government engineers, and certain lawmakers even as common people suffered from constant flooding.

Thousands of Filipinos joined nationwide protests Sunday following a political scandal over midnight budget insertions, mismanaged flood-control funds, and the "ayuda" system with mass actions spreading beyond Manila.

A number of rioters burnt a trailer truck and container van in their attempt to break through the anti-riot police phalanx and storm the Presidential Palace on Sunday.

Many of the protesters were young, reportedly underage people, who showed defiance in their confrontation with anti-riot police.

Several cops were reportedly injured, according to Manila police, while a still-unknown number of protesters were hurt.

A separate group, chanting “Duterte, Duterte” staged their own protest apart from the generally peaceful assemblies attended by tens of thousands in two places in Manila: EDSA-Ortigas Marian Shrine and Luneta Park in Manila. 

Protests were also reported in Baguio, Bulacan, Cebu, Davao.

In Sorsogon, where a small group also conducted a protest, the province's Bishop Jose Alan Dialogo appealed for solidarity against corruption, while imploring those involved to repent and do acts of restoration.

It’s not immediately clear who are the forces behind the Manila rioters.

It's also unclear if they belonged to the same group as the Duterte supporters, who staged their own protest on Recto and marched towards Mendiola and Ayala Bridge, leading to the presidential palace.

Some protesters, with one side belonging to anti-corruption camp and another to the pro-Duterte camp, reportedly clashed with each other, local media reported.

A knife-wielding man, reportedly a pro-Duterte supporter who clashed with other protesters during the "Trillion Peso March" as it neared the People Power Monument was later disarmed, according to the La Sallian.

President Marcos Jr has expressed support for the protests, but called for peaceful assemblies. 

The protests on September coincided with the 53rd anniversary of the 1972 martial law declaration.

Recent Senate and House hearings have exposed alleged kickbacks in flood-control projects, fuelling public outrage and leading to blacklisting of involved firms, the cases filed against 20 public works officials, five contractors and more than 700 bank accounts frozen.